Moving Beyond Macho Misinformation: Getting the Men in Your Life to Look After Their Health
Learning to maintain a healthy lifestyle doesn’t come easy to lots of us. Some people have no concept of being able to look after their health because they have no grounding in what is good and what is bad. Of course, the lines are blurred constantly these days because of information and disinformation, but if you have a male in your family who is not so good at keeping an eye on their health, you could benefit from doing some of the following.
Be Age-Appropriate When It Comes to Health
Being age-appropriate can help to hammer the point home when it comes to certain illnesses or diseases. Men need to prioritise their testicular health, and testicular cancer is something that can present itself even as young as 15! While you could encourage them to go for a private testicular cancer screening, they should also get into the habit of checking their testicles for any abnormalities. When it comes to health concerns, it’s less likely that they will experience a form of cancer until they hit at least their 40s, but being age-appropriate can make sure that we help them to focus on the things that they are exposing themselves to.
Emphasising the Importance of Self-Care
There is still that antiquated sense with men of a certain age, and even younger generations are learning behaviour from father figures who are not prioritising their health, but it’s not just about blaming the men; it’s also about remembering that if, as a family, we communicate a lack of importance when it comes to our health, we have to fix this as soon as possible and prioritise self-care and emphasise how important it is. It’s more common than ever to show off every aspect of our lives on social media or provide the edited highlights, but when we think so much about how the world perceives us, we don’t prioritise what is actually important. Self-care is important for everyone, not just men. It’s about making sure that we get into the habit of checking in with ourselves and not ignoring something if it doesn’t feel quite right. It doesn’t have to be anything physical; it could be aspects of mental health as well. The older men are, the less inclined they are to look after their mental health, and this is why self-care is still the most important tool for looking after our health.
Reframing the Perceptions of Male Strength
There are so many men in society who think that they have to be strong because they are the father figure, the older brother, or just a guy, and therefore, they should show off that sense of strength in whatever way is appropriate. There is a commonly held belief that men don’t want to express their emotions, but this is why we have to start thinking about changing attitudes towards asking for help. Asking for help is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of strength. The topic of masculinity is something that comes in all shapes and sizes, and strength is not just a physical thing or about being a emotionless Terminator-esque individual. Lots of men can find themselves experiencing mental health crises in their late 30s and early 40s, and lots of men want to seek help but feel like they shouldn’t because it goes against what they perceive to be strong, but we have to show the men in our lives that it’s okay to seek help as long as they have the right type of help that tailors to their needs.
Get Moving
Physical health can do a lot to mitigate problems later in life. The most important thing to remember when it comes to male health is that there are a lot of figureheads who are pushing unrealistic expectations. The magazine covers with perfectly chiselled and Photoshopped bodies can set up so many men for a fall because it’s unrealistic and can create a lot of mental inhibitions. There are great cultural figures out there who prioritise strength over a muscular torso, and this is something that we can all get on board with. Trainers like Pavel Tsatsouline talk about being strong rather than muscular, and this can be an amazing way to encourage the males in our lives to look after their physical health without getting sucked into all of the unhealthy aspects of putting on muscle.
It’s tough to encourage your man to look after their health for a myriad of reasons, but this is why it’s important to approach it from a number of different angles.
